At least 2 solids or coplanar regions must be selected.

[Cad64]

Quote

 

I type UCS in the prompt, hit F for Face and click the surface I want to face me

And here's another error?????....."No solids detected."

 

 

Can you post the drawing that just gave you that error? If the object is a solid then you should be able to select the face. If the object is not a solid, then there is no face to select. When you run the UCS command with the Face option, Autocad is expecting you to select the face of a solid. If you pick a surface or region, that's going to throw an error because the object is not a solid.

[Berzerker]

It's the 5th post in page one "Cover1.dwg"

[Berzerker]

@Cad64

My reason I first asked this question is because I kept getting a "No solids detected" error when I was trying to make a solid out of all the pieces of the cover. I used polyline, closed everything and extruded them and just went to rotating them to the correct positions. Once I done that I hit (Union) to join the pieces but there's where my problems started. They are not solids for some reason and nothing I've tried fixes it.

[Cad64]

4 minutes ago, Berzerker said:

It's the 5th post in page one "Cover1.dwg"

 

Yeah, there are no solids in that drawing, so the UCS "Face" command won't work. If you create a solid box and then run the UCS "Face" command, you will see that it does work on Solids, just not on Regions or Surfaces.

 

The best thing to do would be to start over and create a Solid model. I know it's easy for me to say that this part wouldn't be that difficult to create, but it really is pretty straightforward using Boxes and Cylinders and the Union and Subtract commands.

[Berzerker]

@Cad64

Yeah I kinda figured that. Don't know where I went wrong. I thought I was doing right. 

I'm on the drawing now but I'm not as good or fast as you all some it will take "ME" some time.

[Cad64]

9 minutes ago, Berzerker said:

@Cad64

My reason I first asked this question is because I kept getting a "No solids detected" error when I was trying to make a solid out of all the pieces of the cover. I used polyline, closed everything and extruded them and just went to rotating them to the correct positions. Once I done that I hit (Union) to join the pieces but there's where my problems started. They are not solids for some reason and nothing I've tried fixes it.

 

I think at some point that maybe you accidentally exploded the model? If you explode a Solid it converts all the faces of the object to Regions, and cylinders become Surfaces, which is what your model is. Just a collection of Regions and Surfaces.

[Cad64]

1 minute ago, Berzerker said:

I'm on the drawing now but I'm not as good or fast as you all some it will take "ME" some time.

 

Well, this will be good practice for you then. If you want to get into 3D printing you will need to know how to create good solid models. If you run into any problems, just post a question and I'm sure someone will be willing to help out.

 

And don't forget about Fusion 360. Maybe not for this project, but for future projects, it would be a good program to have in your toolbox, especially if you want to create more complex or organic models. I've played around with it a little bit. There is a learning curve, but once you get comfortable with it, you will forget about using Autocad for 3D.

[steven-g]

On 4/3/2020 at 9:10 PM, Berzerker said:

 I'm 59 years old I haven't been to school in a long time.

Me too, and just started learning Fusion 360. I did a full year (evening course) on Inventor about 4 years ago, and still never got the hang of it, I find Fusion a lot easier to get on with. Yeah it is different than AutoCAD but worth the effort. Finding a good set of tutorials is the key. And it's not really something you can get from recomendations, it is purely personal taste so just try a few until you find someone you can relate to and enjoy their style.

[Berzerker]

Ok I got everything as a solid and I can union them. How or what is the command to fill the gaps. It's made out of panels and I just a better word would be join the sections.

 

Edited April 5, 2020 by Berzerker

[Cad64]

15 hours ago, Berzerker said:

Ok I got everything as a solid and I can union them. How or what is the command to fill the gaps. It's made out of panels and I just a better word would be join the sections.

 

There is no command to fill gaps, that I know of. It looks like you created individual pieces and then moved and rotated them into position? I guess that can work, as long as you can figure out how to clean up the intersections at the corners and edges. I see other problems though. It appears that the individual pieces don't line up correctly or maybe they're not the correct size or shape as the adjacent pieces?

 

My method for creating something like this would be to start with a solid box and then subtract out what I don't need. Sort of like sculpting. You start with a block of clay and then remove what you don't need.

 

If I have time later, maybe I can create a tutorial, unless someone else has time to do it.

[Berzerker]

Yeah I kinda figured that too after trying to do it my way. Guess that's not how it's done (?) Now comes the part of fixing the pieces so I can use them as a cookie cutter.

Thanks @Cad64

[Cad64]

Ok, here's my tutorial, part 1

 

1. Draw a polyline profile of your part

2. Extrude out your basic shape

3. Create boxes and move and rotate them into position at the corners

4. Subtract the boxes from the model to cut the corners

[Cad64]

Tutorial part 2. This part is a little more difficult and this is where a program like Fusion 360 really makes things easier.

 

5. Draw a polyline outline, the same dimensions as the outside of your model.

6. Offset the polyline the amount of your wall thickness. I used .125 for this tutorial.

7. Extrude the offset polyline to create a negative for cutting out the inside of the model.

8. Use boxes again to cut the bottom corners of the negative to match the angles on the bottom of the base model.

9. Place the negative inside your base model and then subtract it to carve out the inside of the model.

[Cad64]

Tutorial part 3.

 

10. Create a box and cylinders and move them into position.

11. Union everything together.

12. Create a smaller box and cylinders and move them into position.

13. Subtract them and you're done.

[Berzerker]

That's easy for you @Cad64. There are a couple of more angled corners on the cover.  I'll go to extrude something the same way I just extruded another part and for some reason it goes the opposite way (?) It will take me so long to figure out how to make it go the other way I get flustrated. And I've noticed somethings wrong with  the other angles I mentioned. My origami it's quite right. I will place something to subtract the parts I don't want in the dwg only to change views and find it half way across the dwg. and putting it in the right place is an up hill battle.

I'm getting better. Bet that only took you 5 minutes, I spent all day yesterday only to realize I've gotten nowhere.

[steven-g]

@Berzerker I think that tutorial might have taken a bit longer than 5 minutes, but the difference is practice, and experience in knowing what commands are available and how they work.

I also think @Cad64 desreves at least a small word of thanks for the effort put into showing the steps used above.

[Berzerker]

OH yeah no doubt @steven-g. Sorry @Cad64 thank you for showing me some tips. Please don't think I wasn't grateful, I am. I'm on it right now. I was pointing to the fact if he had to do it for himself it wouldn't have taken no time at all but for me it's like the never ending story. And while I'm at it @steven-g, Thank you for replying too. You guys do this out of the kindness of your hearts when you don't have to.

[steven-g]

@Berzerker 

4 minutes ago, Berzerker said:

You guys do this out of the kindness of your hearts when you don't have to.

What, you mean you haven't got the bill yet. (But it is half price on Tuesday's)

[Berzerker]

OK I can't figure this out. I extrude a part trying to make a mold to press in my solid block. But they go the wrong way. I pull to the side I want it to go but it don't. then when I try to move them the opposite direction and type a distance in it goes somewhere else in the dwg (Nowhere near where I told it to go). Now I spend 30 minutes trying to put it where it's suppose to go.

[Berzerker]

"Extrude direction is parallel to plane of sweep curve." What does that mean?